"Orange Is The New Black's" Piper Kerman to speak Tuesday

"Orange Is The New Black" author Piper Kerman to talk in Grand Rapids about prison reform

Orange is the New Black author, Piper Kerman will Keynote in Grand Rapids Tuesday Night at Fountain Street Church.

Piper Kerman says she wants to call attention to issues in the criminal justice system—especially those affecting girls and women.

“There’s three really important things that drive women’s involvement in crime or in potentially their incarceration. And that is substance abuse, a high incidence of mental illness or mental heath problems and an incredibly high incidence of physical victimization.”

Kerman says up to 90% of women and girls in the system have been sexually or physically abused prior to ending up incarcerated. And beyond individual women, the effect is societal.

“So we know, for example that when we incarcerate a mother her kids are five times more likely to go into the foster care system.”

And it’s these issues that Doug Tjapkes, president of Humanity for Prisoners hopes to bring light in Michigan.

“Michigan rates, probably among all of the states, if not at the top its very near the top of the states who keep people in prison longer than any other state. So we have a lot of people in prison in Michigan and a lot who probably really should be out.

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The Michigan Senate has overwhelmingly approved wide-ranging legislation that is aimed at keeping criminals from re-offending. Supporters say the bills - the first approved in the new two-year term - would keep communities safer and save the state money by implementing evidence-based practices.

About half of those entering the prison system each year are parole or probation violators.

Proposals OK'd Thursday include limiting how long offenders can be incarcerated for technical violations of their probation and more clearly establishing sanctions for parole violators.

The Michigan Department of Corrections is setting up a 30-person unit to monitor the department's private contracts for the supply of food, medical treatment and other services.

The Detroit Free Press reports it's the first state department to set up such a unit.

MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz says the department spent about $250 million last year on about 185 service contracts, including about 70 substance abuse contracts, more than a dozen sex offender related contracts and about a dozen prisoner re-entry contracts.